Well, after today, I can honestly say I feel better about being here. I woke up to some bad news--my friend Jerry Foss (real estate agent extraordinaire) had passed away Sep. 9 due to brain cancer. I will miss him terribly. But still I had to proceed with my day.
Kerry accompanied me to the bus--30 minute bus ride, then a brief walk to campus. There I grabbed a Hong Kong Milk Tea, chatted with a couple professors, and then jumped on the shuttle to the Songjiang Campus. At this point, Kerry left me to go shopping.
The shuttle ride took about 80 minutes....we arrived about 12:40. It was pouring rain outside all day today. Professor Wang Jin was on the bus as well, and she walked with me to Teaching Building 5, where the School of English Studies is housed. Along the way, I admired the beauty of the campus: absolutely gorgeous Victorian architecture, domed, cathedral-like library. Unbelievable! When I walked into the building, a bust of William Shakespeare greeted me. Carol was on campus and I was led to her office. She informed me that I had an office on campus, too: yay! All to myself with air-conditioning.
Soon after, we went to the dining hall for lunch. They have three floors of dining halls here, but the bottom two were closed by the time we got here. Again, the rain poured, and it was VERY hot today: about 90 degrees Fahrenheit. I chose the option of eating a "hot pot": mixing veggies and meats into one bowl. The bowl comes with noodles, a cold soup, and a bowl of rice. Huge amount of food for only about $3 in US money--amazing!! I could eat only half of it. (Part of this was because it was a tad spicey for me...)
I then picked up some sundries at the campus store, added money to my Campus Card in the library, and then went back to my office for a bit. After the air conditioner was fixed, I relaxed for about 30 minutes and even had time to call Kerry. I thought about using the bathroom, but I am not yet brave enough to deal with squat toilets, no toilet paper, no soap, and no paper towels. (I forgot these things at home!)
Carol accompanied me to the Admin. Building, where I was greeted by the Deputy Dean of the Honors College and her assistant. They were so friendly, inviting me to sit down, rest, have coffee, etc... They told me about the Honors College and the students. Apparently the students were sent my handouts before class, so I didn't have to worry. And an assistant had been appointed! So I was ready to go!
When 4:30 arrived, I turned on the charm. I told the students about myself, my lack of background with China and the Chinese language, and then took their questions about me and/or the United States. One girl asked if, since I had lived in Detroit, I had been to Eminem's house. One student wanted to know if I was on Facebook; apparently the students DO use Facebook here. They know about VPNs and how to use them.
I then gave them a brief lecture on the Puritans to prepare them for the Puritan poetry they are reading for next week (Bradstreet and Taylor). Some of them asked good questions during the lecture. At the end, I had them write a letter in which they introduced themselves to me. When I got on the bus to return to the main campus, I looked over these letters, and I was amazed: perfect grammar, wonderful sentence structure, intelligent insights. I was so impressed! I went home happy.
After procuring a taxi home (note: my drive dropped me off in front of the wrong building, but I figured things out), I walked to my apartment. Kerry was there starting dinner. We had steak and salad: the salad was wonderful (fresh veggies), but the "steak" left something to be desired. More like Salisbury than filet mignon.
All in all, a very good day. I feel better about this place.
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